Petracca may not play 

He has a hairline fracture of the fibula 

other teams have tried new players all year long why are we afraid, we are not penalizing players that dont play well and dont reward those in Casey that do. That is a poor culture. we will loose these backup and developing players because they do not see a chance to be selected when playing well. can some of these players with good form play worse than players with poor form. I am not a fan of bring tom mc back too soon, we want fully fit match hardened players, he has only played 3quarters of a game and from what i understand was not overly impressive. ANB needs to go back to casey maybe he can find form there, trying to play him each week on the expectation that he will just find it is madness/stupid. Melksham's game was poor primarily because he missed goals, if he had kicked those goal then maybe we would think far better of his game. His previous games where he played well seemed to be when he was one on one with opposition players in the forward line. he was 1on1 with opposition players a few times last night but ignored, as players went for the pack.  i am still not sure why you would put it to the boundary instead of the goal square. We tend to lose it either way, why not make it easier for our forwards who may find it easier to get goals not pushed up against the boundary line.  I was surprised to see may kick the ball down the right hand side to BBB last night a great move, problem was no one else was prepared on that side, i think May needs to vary his kicking in a bit. he could probably run 30-40 meters on the right hand side before kicking the ball because everyone is set up for the left hand side.

11 hours ago, IRW said:

Harmes likely won't play before round 2 next year.

Huh? It wasn’t even high contact. Cripps’ incident ought to set the tone for at least the remainder of the season. 

22 minutes ago, IRW said:

Yeah two crucial misses and half the team fell over or handpassed to Sydney all night.

He was pressure  and as much as they need extra big  tall strong I'd almost play TMac for rag doll Brown and hope Fritta and Gawn can catch it.

Max doesn't tap to our players anyway .

Problem with TMac is I don't think he comes back from foot injuries with any sort of form to speak of.

That's me jogging past you while you blame Melksham for bad coaching an game wide lousy decisions from the  Captain down

if you are going to say we lost last night because we're badly coach then you can go too. Sydney's pressure was amazing and forced us into errors. That is what pressure and finals do to you. They sustained their pressure for longer than we did.

 

Also really not sure how me swapping Melksham for McDonald can be viewed as me "blaming Melksham". 🤷‍♂️

9 minutes ago, Mel Bourne said:

Huh? It wasn’t even high contact. Cripps’ incident ought to set the tone for at least the remainder of the season. 

Happy to be mistaken.

We will see

12 hours ago, Jaded No More said:

I would LOVE to see this happen but 0 chance they debut JVR in an elimination final. Needed to be done weeks ago when the cupboard was bare up forward (which it still is). 
 

I want ANB dropped. He has been horrendous all year under pressure and finals will only magnify that. 

Yeah, the match committee are not very 'innovative' hey? I wouldn't expect JVR to actually play, just what I would like to see.

 

Melksham just can’t kick any more. Used to be his main weapon. He’s gotta go. If Trac gets up for the game he can take his spot up forward and then put Dunston or Bedford in. Nibbler has been pretty crap this year but they won’t drop him now. 

 

For a start I would bring in Dunstan, van Rooyen and either Chandler or Bedford maybe both. Where has the Reward for Effort gone from Selectors. Our bottom six we’re just that bottom six any of the above would do a better job. JVR would have to be an improvement in our forward line, I am thinking that it is a crying shame that we do not have a 6’3 hard body to put into our forward line to give a bit back and help BB out. Melk just isn’t big enough to fill the third tall????? We are really lacking some height and marking capability around the ground. Swans have it in spades but lack the silk, we have the silk but need some spades.!!!

If Harmes is suspended we'd win it on appeal for sure.  I reckon he'll get a fine.  Late bump, not high, no damage done, 50 given and play on.  We'll need him if Petracca is out or reduced to a cameo forward role.  

18 minutes ago, DemonLad5 said:

if you are going to say we lost last night because we're badly coach then you can go too. Sydney's pressure was amazing and forced us into errors. That is what pressure and finals do to you. They sustained their pressure for longer than we did.

 

Also really not sure how me swapping Melksham for McDonald can be viewed as me "blaming Melksham". 🤷‍♂️

The coaching failures over time  come to fruition when there are no  previous alternatives from Casey trialed from when we were 10 zip but patchy...and show up when the players are interviewed and say " we have that ferocious edge going" and the like .

Shut that presumptuous  crepe down until the game is over  is the job of someone on  the coaching staff 

I understood you were on the blame Melksham for anything band wagon that runs around here.

My mistake apparently

I can't see TMac being ready given his slow build to form in the past.

Obviously he's an option...but I'd get rid of BBB myself and trust the forward line smalls to work harder

But yes overall they cracked under pressure all around the ground,there's only so many times May and Petty can stop it without mistakes creeping in.

So Longmire prepared his team better than Goodwin?

Edited September 3, 20223 yr by IRW

I know it won’t happen but:

In - Weideman, 

Out - Jackson

Why?

Gawn to play 80% of the game as a ruckman because he’s the best ruckman in the league and should be played there accordingly every week.

Weideman to replace Jackson as Jackson has next to zero forward craft and I don’t want him playing down there 80% of the game and clunking 1 mark if he’s lucky. Weid’s obviously a forward by trade and has a history of playing well in his return games.

 

1 hour ago, BDA said:

Unless we change structurally by bringing TMac in i'm not sure there's a lot of point making changes at this stage. Just swapping deck chairs

The boys need to find and bring their best

Totally agree. They have lacked a chf option since TMac went out. You need a chf to win big games on the MCG. 

8 minutes ago, IRW said:

 

Obviously he's an option...but I'd get rid of BBB myself and trust the forward line smalls to work harder

That's a good idea. Bomb it high to the pocket to 5 smalls and Fritta.

Just now, Redleg said:

That's a good idea. Bomb it high to the pocket to 5 smalls and Fritta.

Spot on. That would be worse. The whole bomb it to the pocket as I understand it is so the defence can structure up. Very defensive offence

3 minutes ago, Redleg said:

That's a good idea. Bomb it high to the pocket to 5 smalls and Fritta.

A bit less bombing it high to pockets and more Fitta to space with TMac and  Max going to the hot spots might help.

Silly I know and its probably too late to change ,but it would give Kossi his chance to take that mark of the year he's inclined to attempt 

Edited September 3, 20223 yr by IRW

If Trac is anything less than 90% fit, I'd play him deep forward, with an occasional run on the ball. Bring Dunstan in to play onball. Move Gus to the wing, and play Harmes in ANBs role, and also rotating in the middle.

In: Dunstan

Out: ANB

14 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

I know it won’t happen but:

In - Weideman, 

Out - Jackson

Why?

Gawn to play 80% of the game as a ruckman because he’s the best ruckman in the league and should be played there accordingly every week.

Weideman to replace Jackson as Jackson has next to zero forward craft and I don’t want him playing down there 80% of the game and clunking 1 mark if he’s lucky. Weid’s obviously a forward by trade and has a history of playing well in his return games.

 

Yeah look I understand your point.

Jackson up forward Is a liability. Has no natural forward instinct nor does he take any contested marks or ever look threatening. 

Him up taking up a spot in our forward line has stifled our ability to play more natural forwards in Weideman and Jacov Van Rooyen this year.

6 hours ago, rpfc said:

Not really, he’s playing an important role for others. I would suck up that structural loss, simplify the game a bit and get Chandler or Bedford in.

NEAL-BULLEN

Are you saying he should be dropped ?

Has Dunstan suddenly become a good player? Did I miss something? His skills are poor and he a good vfl inside mid. We would be worse with him in the team

10 minutes ago, mo64 said:

If Trac is anything less than 90% fit, I'd play him deep forward, with an occasional run on the ball. Bring Dunstan in to play onball. Move Gus to the wing, and play Harmes in ANBs role, and also rotating in the middle.

In: Dunstan

Out: ANB

A serious option Mo I reckon.

As Luke Hodge said this morning, the issue with Trac won't be the pain, but the Lions will continually push him over in the clinches.

This means he has to keep getting  up off the ground and that will exacerbate his issue and pain levels.

Up forward reduces the crash and bash and aflling over andhe  will still be a weapon. 

24 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Yeah look I understand your point.

Jackson up forward Is a liability. Has no natural forward instinct nor does he take any contested marks or ever look threatening. 

Him up taking up a spot in our forward line has stifled our ability to play more natural forwards in Weideman and Jacov Van Rooyen this year.

No O Mac next week so LJ stays I think. Gawn > Weed in the forward line. 

1 hour ago, Mel Bourne said:

Huh? It wasn’t even high contact. Cripps’ incident ought to set the tone for at least the remainder of the season. 

Cripps got 2 weeks,  then wasn't the reason it was overturned because the Chair of the Tribunal didn't issue directions to the Panel before deliberations - so purely a technicality??

I reckon Harmes will be given 1, then a challenge required to try and reduce to a Fine

35 minutes ago, Abyssal said:

NEAL-BULLEN

Are you saying he should be dropped ?

Well how do you think Chandler or Bedford get in??

Getting there??

Spargo may miss, but if he can play, ANB should come out for a bit more polished skills  -  do we have an option? Is Chandler good enough? Anyone think Bowey can play forward?

And do we have a Hail Mary fwd option? Could Tomlinson play forward? Does he still have his wingman tank? Take up the defensive fwd role while adding height?